What is Female Viagra?

I hear about Viagra and other new pills and creams for women to function better in bed. Which works the best?

The answer is probably "none of the above." Sexual desire, arousal, and function are driven by a complex stew of factors including biology, psychology, culture, relationship, and situation.

Female Viagra

Ask the Sexpert

Female Viagra

Dear Dr. Klein,

I hear about Viagra and other new pills and creams for women to function better in bed. Which works the best?

Dear Reader,

The answer is probably "none of the above."

Sexual desire, arousal, and function are driven by a complex stew of factors including biology, psychology, culture, relationship, and situation.

Pills and creams are used on the assumption that a person's sexual difficulty is vascular (blood vessels) or neurological (nervous system) in nature. While this is undoubtedly true in some cases, no one is really sure how many. In my experience as a sex therapist, the number of such people is small--and, generally, most of them also have psychological or relationship issues to deal with.

When people have difficulty functioning in bed the way they want to, I assume that their bodies are responding appropriately to various aspects of the situation in which they're being sexual. The question is, exactly what are their bodies responding reasonably to? For example, if someone has low desire for sex that she thinks will be unpleasant, that makes sense. Or if a person has trouble having an orgasm when she keeps telling herself that sweating or yelling during sex isn't ladylike, that makes sense.

Before you try pills or creams to make sex better, ask yourself if your sexual difficulties are being influenced by frustration with your mate, your feelings about your body or sex, contraceptive difficulties, or painful events in the past. These are all issues that must be resolved to enhance sexual functioning--and there are no lotions that will help you do so.

Viagra has not been approved for women, and its manufacturer says clinical trials of it with women have been disappointing. For that matter, Viagra has been disappointing--or even aggravating--for many couples. After adjusting to a lack of erections over time, many people experience the sudden ability to get erect as quite disruptive. Men start chasing their mates around the house, wanting to use their new toy at odd hours. Women start accusing their mates of infidelity--"now that you can, I bet you are." Some couples kiss and have non-intercourse sex less, reducing the woman's chance of orgasm. Some women are ambivalent about the whole idea--"are you excited by me, or by your pill?"

Because sexual function is psychologically complicated, and most people unhappy with their functioning develop additional emotional concerns, resolving emotional and relationship issues will always be central to enhancing sexual function. To get more blood to your vulva, address your feelings, rather than your blood vessels.